News Around the World
Proving that a maximum length is most of what you need for a successful development class… A study in Class40 hull evolution by Christophe Breschi recorded at the Grand Prix Guyader. Clockwise from above… Englishman Phil Sharp still wins races with his original 2013 Mach40 no130 designed by Sam Manuard and built like all Mach40s by JPS Production in La Trinité; no153 is the latest Manuard design, Luke Berry’s Mach40.3 Magenta; the most radical of the newest boats is no150 built by Gepeto, Marc Lombard’s take on the scow theme that is dominating the Mini 6.50 class – a ‘full scow’ is not possible under the Class40 rule which like the TP52 rule is strictly controlled by the owners to moderate development; now looking tippy and old-fashioned, yet until the latest more powerful hulls appeared 18 months ago no123 (Tales II) remained one of the hardest Class40s to beat – designed by Marcelo Botín for brother Gonzales and built by Longitud Cero in 2013, Tales II was twice Class40 world champion and as recently as 2016 had a sensational run of victories including the Caribbean Cup, Atlantic Cup, the Quebec-St Malo and the Normandy Channel Race...
FRANCE Good value? In the Class40 it is not only new boats that win prizes… Aymeric Chappellier, sailing the latest Sam Manuard-designed Mach40.3 Aïna Enfance (2017), was first to cross the finish line of Les 1,000 Milles des Sables, the first solo race of the 2018 calendar, but close behind him was Sam Goodchild racing a 2014 Mach40.1 and in third place another Englishman Phil Sharp on the original Mach40 Imeryswhich was launched five years ago in 2013 (Imerys was also the overall 2017 Class40 champion). The next Class40 event was the famous Grand Prix Guyader in
Douarnenez. Jean Galfione, winner of the event in 2012 and 2016, did it a third time this year on Serenis Consulting, which was designed in 2012 by Tom Humphreys at the brilliant Humphreys Yacht Design. The first day, Saturday 5 May, was good for the Class40
newcomers. Lost Boys (Finot, 2011), recently bought by Charles Louis Mourruau, won the first coastal course and Volvo (Manuard, 2013), skippered by newcomer Jonas Gerckens, the second. Comparing boats in Douarnenez, the latest rather ‘fat’ and clearly
scow-influenced Lombard design Carac, skippered by Louis Duc, looked very fast downwind, but the Humphreys Serenis was just too consistent with a scoreline of 2-2-4-1. On the final day another ‘old’ design, the eight-year-old Pogo S3 Région Normandie, was also doing rather well, comfortably leading the second coastal race before it was unfortunately abandoned. Jean Galfione: ‘I have been racing Serenis for three years so I
know her well. She is particularly fast in the light-medium conditions we had in Douarnenez, but I’m still pleased with this result because the standard was so high here with many new boats. Actually, Sere- nis is still competitive in most conditions – although heavy reaching offshore the newer boats are clearly more powerful. ‘We have made no significant changes to the Humphreys design since I bought it, except to modify the position of the bulb on the
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keel slightly, without any real benefit to be frank! But my sponsorship deal finishes at the end of the Route du Rhum and so my boat will then be for sale because I do not know what’s going to happen next.’ The third event for the Class40 was the crewed 320nm ArMen
Race run from La Trinité sur Mer (having 170 entries altogether). In ‘physical’ conditions the first Class40 to cross the line was Oman Sail, designed by Guillaume Verdier and skippered by Guillaume Le Brec sailing with famous offshore champion Vincent Riou and three Omani crewmen. They were followed across the line just 21 seconds later by Lost Boys, an eight-year-old Pogo 40 S2 that once belonged to Halvard Mabire. Jean-Baptiste Daramy and his team completed the podium on a 10-year-old Verdier design launched in 2008! The next big Class40 event is the two-handed Normandy Channel
Race with more than 30 boats entered. And remember that more than 50 Class40 will race in the Route du Rhum in November. Such a success story!
Mano a mano The Nice UltiMed is a new event for Ultims with a 930nm offshore race as its main entrée, passing around Sardinia and Corsica and back to Nice with a loop around virtual marks off the Baie des Anges to finish. Six Ultims were expected but unfortunately the new Gitana (still testing) and Macif (back at Multiplast to be ‘foiled’) were not part of the game, while Banque Populaire also went missing after her capsize on the way to Nice. Yves Le Blévec did manage to be at the start on a previous Gitana (his own boat, the old Sodebo, was lost at sea rounding the Horn last winter). So only three giant trimarans were at the first event. Yves won
the prologue race in light conditions but retired early from the offshore race with a failure of his hydraulic mast canting system. And then there were two: Sodebo and Idec Sport, two boats that
are usually challenging records around the world in solo mode. Fortunately Thomas Coville and Francis Joyon delivered a nice show across a range of conditions that varied from flat calm to winds of
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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